Which Sport Produces The Most Fantastic Finishes?

"How many lead changes, buzzer beaters, and scores in the final
minute happen in every major sport, including soccer? Basketball
kills everybody at this stuff, and this stuff is fantastic."

Well, we were curious too, so we did an quick informal survey of
every game in the NBA, NFL, and NHL so far this season. Here's
what we found. (Yes, we know. Small sample size. Humor us. And
sorry, but no soccer.)

NBA:

106 total games

16 games had at least one lead change in the final minute

8 went to overtime

NFL:

126 total games

15 had a lead change in the final minute

10 went to overtime

NHL:

203 total games

7 had a lead change in the final minute

42 went to overtime

16 ended in a shootout

Conclusions? (Feel free to check our math, too.)

Well, the NBA and NFL are remarkably similar when it comes to
producing nail-biting games. However, while a typical NBA game
can have several lead changes AND a buzzer beater in the same
final minute, most late NFL scores are field goals, kicked after
multiple, soul-draining timeouts.

Meanwhile, the NHL almost never sees a last-second deciding goal,
but ... hockey has a remarkable number of tie games that feature
an extra period. And more than half of those end with a sudden
death goal, arguably the most exciting moment a sports game can
create. (For what it's worth, last season, more 60% of games went
to shootouts, so that's a recent development.)

We don't have the baseball numbers for 2010 yet, but there was
only one walkoff win in the postseason this year.

You can argue about what type of finish is better — though
desperation threes are nice, it's tough to beat the tension of a
tied hockey game in the third period — but it seems that
basketball doesn't necessarily produce more exciting endings than
any other sports.